


you know the rules, so do i

by loosecloudymist_OperaEagleAce



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alternate POV, Although, Dark!Tsuna, Gen, Mafia Boss Tsuna, Reborn is sorry :o, The Author Regrets Nothing, To An Extent, Yeeet, everyone else is a mixture of happy and sad, hahaha, not make it worse, overprotective Sky Tsuna, poor tsuna, remix fic, sweet sweet angst, this was supposed to fix it, whoops my fingers slipped
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:09:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21991975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loosecloudymist_OperaEagleAce/pseuds/loosecloudymist_OperaEagleAce
Summary: Reborn was so silly sometimes. Tsuna understood what was going on behind the hitman's blank expression, but it wasn't really anything of consequence..Reborn realizes he's made Tsuna into a mafia boss. Tsuna understands, but his depth of feeling for that particular situation has long since faded.And alternate PoV piece for Seito's 'I'm not a liar, but I close my eyes a lot.'
Relationships: Reborn & Sawada Tsunayoshi, Sawada Tsunayoshi & Vongola Tenth Generation
Comments: 14
Kudos: 218
Collections: 2019 KHR Winter Remix Fest Round 2: Remixes





	you know the rules, so do i

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Seito](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seito/gifts).
  * Inspired by [I'm not a liar, but I close my eyes a lot](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21267362) by [Seito](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seito/pseuds/Seito). 



> this hurt to write uwu

It had started with a threat to his Right Hand. A spy (the Vongola always seemed to have a couple, even after Tsuna and Xanxus’ complete overhaul of the administration and management systems and accompanying demonstration, and everyone seemed to try for infiltration, although Tsuna was particularly good at using his Intuition to sniff them out) had planned for Hayato to walk right over a bomb. His teeth instinctively bared just thinking about it. Pathetic. 

Tsuna realized in the back of his mind that this wasn’t how the old him had reacted, this wasn’t the mercy he used to show. But he needed to bring justice and defend his best friend, Right Hand, and Storm. He was _furious_ , assaulted with similar occurrences when Ryohei almost hadn’t gotten there in time, when the beacon of light from one of his precious people had almost been snuffed out. He had to defend his family, and being weak and soft had put them in mortal danger more than once. He felt zero regret looking at his actions now compared to then.

The gunshot almost wasn’t enough to satisfy Tsuna. Not only would that bomb have put Hayato in danger, everyone else in that part of the building also would have been, and he’d grown _fond_ of his Family, his people. Speaking of…

Reborn was awfully quiet. “Reborn?” Tsuna asked, resisting the urge to wipe the blood off his face. 

“Hm?” The Sun’s face was too loose, probably trying to hide emotions. 

In a flash, his Intuition made all the connections. The gun, the still body and Tsuna’s lack of reaction, the blood splatters, Tsuna’s ramrod straight posture that Reborn himself had beaten into the Sky. Tsuna’s lack of reaction had apparently been the biggest trigger of Reborn’s current realization. 

As Tsuna had grown more calloused, ready to defend his people at the drop of a pin and condemn everyone who could cause them damage or pain, he’d known objectively what was happening. But this was the price of his new life. In order to save his sanity and his soft, merciful heart instead of obliterating it, his mercy and unthinking compassion was only applicable to the Vongola and Allies, and the most empathetic, bleeding part of his heart was carefully reserved for his inner family. Of course this wasn’t ideal, but this was the best way to survive in the life Reborn had shoved him in.

Reborn had been thinking of Tsuna as two different people, Tsuna-with-the-roaring-Flames and Dame-Tsuna. But… they weren’t separate. Tsuna hadn’t even changed that much from Dame-Tsuna, he just realized that in extreme circumstances he had to be realistic and jaded in order to do what was necessary. (Unfortunately, as a result of his title, “extreme circumstances” came around a lot more often than he’d like.) It would take a couple minutes until he was completely unthawed from the murder, but it wasn’t that big of a deal. Tsuna was a good boss now, firm, protective, confident. Wasn’t that everything Reborn could hope for? 

“Is everything alright?” 

The Sun’s stare retreated farther into shock. “It’s nothing,” he denied. 

Tsuna sighed internally. “Reborn,” he said, a bit of exasperation leaking into his voice. Reborn should just say it out loud, so Tsuna could ease his fears, envelope him in a bit of old-fashioned Tsuna comfort, and they could move on. 

Ouch. Somehow that had made it worse? Reborn was silly sometimes. He thought that Tsuna was getting colder and colder, when really, he was learning to project amusement like a boss. And it was so much easier to be amused than feel the terror he’d used to feel all the time. All the time! That terror should be reserved for truly horrifying times, like his Storm almost walking into a _lethal trap_. 

Really, Reborn was overreacting to Tsuna’s perfectly logical reaction. He needed to give Reborn another chance to get his internal difficulty out there, although it was doubtful he’d take Tsuna up on the subconscious offer. 

“Fine,” Tsuna told him. “I won’t push. But you can tell me what’s bothering you, you know that, right?” 

Reborn didn’t even answer, just sort of absentmindedly nodded, and Tsuna watched as a thought process unfolded in his brain. The Sky stared at the hitman, searching for clues, and then down at himself and the pistol in his hands, down at the body, sideways at the corridor. Intuition picked up the cold breeze blowing down the corridor and ran with it. **Coldcoldcold** , it prompted him, **Skycoldandunexpressive**. 

Ah, so Reborn had picked up on the emotional dampening. Tsuna had seen that posture more than enough times in Hayato--although now it was combined with the looseness of defensive World’s Greatest Hitman emotional paranoia--to know that Reborn was blaming himself for Tsuna’s amusement-not-panic state in reaction to the murder he'd just committed. 

If Reborn hadn’t come to turn Tsuna ruthless, somebody else would have. Somebody else that would have been just as ruthless and uncaring as Reborn had been in the early days, and may never have become fond of Dame-Tsuna. 

When he started to change under Reborn's tutelage, although he remained in denial for a long time, he was actually the first one to recognize the harshness of his new persona, the lack of empathy for his enemy. (That was the curse of Sky Flames keeping his knowledge in harmony with his emotions, and Hyper Intuition.)

If this was what a mafia boss was supposed to be, then he hadn't wanted to be a mafia boss. 

What civilian _would_? But after Kokuyo, his objections were louder, more insistent. 

And partly because of the offhand dismissals of Tsuna’s most sincere desires, Tsuna had come to understand that he was just a job to Reborn, the man that had overhauled Tsuna's life into something vaguely livable. The one that had brought precious people that Tsuna absolutely could not live without into his life. Tsuna was just a check mark on a list. 

And yet, Reborn had so much pain and so much regret and so much anguish buried underneath the surface. The Sun might not have valued Tsuna that highly, but Tsuna was never able to stop himself from caring far, far too deeply. Any sacrifice he could make that would potentially bring happiness to Reborn, he had to make. And so the Arcobaleno curse was broken. 

So, Tsuna was just a job until he wasn't anymore. After that sacrifice, Reborn had realized how much Tsuna had come to mean to him. Tsuna had breathed a sigh of relief and basked in the newfound, more recognized bond between them.

Tsuna conceded that Reborn had changed him, and that he hadn’t truly had Tsuna’s best interests in mind the first little while. Now Reborn was completely on Tsuna’s family’s side, and one way or another Tsuna would have become jaded this way, so it was all okay. Tsuna had been so, so forgiving, and _of course_ he forgave Reborn. Tsuna actually _wouldn’t_ be himself if he didn’t forgive his family. 

Reborn had been quiet too long. Tsuna wanted to take a shower and round up his family for dinner. 

“Reborn?”

“Are you happy?” Oh, so he did want to talk about it. “With your current life.” 

“Yes, of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” Tsuna had _people_. He had family closer than he’d ever thought anyone could be--family that, even if it would break his heart, would run into battle and die for him. That brought a surge of love and gratitude and happy bounces to his Flames every time he thought about it, not to mention that tender determination deserved respect and admiration that it would be cruel not to acknowledge. That was his whole world, his whole universe. He literally couldn’t _not_ be happy. Even just looking at Reborn or Takeshi or Lambo or _any_ of his family brought up a wave of affection and protectiveness. 

“You kill on a regular basis,” Reborn pointed out. 

And he would kill anyone to protect his precious people. Especially _traitors_ like the one he’d just mercifully shot. “He put Hayato in danger with that information leak.” 

Reborn was really mourning Tsuna’s ability to kill? Once, after Tsuna had thrown a fit over having to assassinate someone planning to attack an Alliance meeting, Reborn had told him in no uncertain terms that mafia bosses could not be allowed to mourn their kills. And that there would be a lot of them. And that was just something Tsuna would have to deal with. 

Granted, Reborn himself had felt pained at the harsher than strictly necessary manner he’d snapped with then, but it didn’t change the ugly truth. 

And what Reborn had said _was_ the truth. 

Come on, Reborn, Tsuna thought, just get to the root of the problem. The problem with _that_ was that Reborn was always slower on the emotional uptake than Tsuna. And, now, less good at dealing with emotional shocks than Tsuna. Reborn had trained that ruthlessness into him! That was supposed to be a good thing! 

“You didn’t forgive him.” Reborn’s voice was stone-cold in complete hibernation. 

Ah. Yeah, of course it would be about forgiveness and not murder. Reborn was a _hitman_! But honestly? Forgiveness of betrayal, lethal intent against his family or Family--a completely different thing from the relatively simple task of forgiving property damage or lethal intent to himself or mistakes by his people in Family operation--was much more difficult than murder, and he’d done enough of it already in his long life. 

Did Reborn really think he should have remained that soft, that susceptible to future threats and harm to his Family? 

“Why should I?” Tsuna snapped. “He put Hayato in danger! If Shoichi hadn’t discovered his identity, Hayato would have walked right into that trap, right over a _bomb._ ” 

Reborn’s face didn’t change. It hadn’t changed since the ‘cold’ realization happened. 

“You think I should have forgiven him?” Honestly? Why? If Hayato had actually died, or been paralyzed or something, Tsuna never would have forgiven himself--his family would have, but that would only bring more condemnation upon his own head. He would have brought so much suffering and future trials to his family’s lives. 

It was only fair to pass the pain onto the would-be perpetrator. 

“No,” Reborn said. “...No. Putting a bullet in his head was the… right choice.” 

“Then why?” At this point he was legitimately curious. What would Reborn say? Why was it not the right choice for Tsuna, as was implied?

“I wouldn’t have forgiven him,” Reborn said, some of the wrinkles on his forehead smoothing as he figure out what to say. “But normally, you would have.” 

A flare of indignation rose in his chest that fizzled out fast, because Reborn was far too precious for him to get mad at the hitman having done his job and being too emotionally stunted not to realize until now what the consequences were. Tsuna still gave him a sharp look. “I haven’t been that naive boy in a long time, Reborn. I grew up.” _You forced me to grow up._

Tsuna hadn’t really known in his soul that he could actually lose his family, then. He’d had so many nightmares since then, and Tsuna’s current mental state was honestly the best-case scenario.

Tsuna cobbled his thoughts together. It honestly probably wouldn’t do much to change his advisor's horror--maybe literally everyone else in his family had rubbed off on the Sun, for Reborn to blame himself so much for Tsuna’s state of mind--but he had to try. 

“I don’t know what to tell you, Reborn,” he said, keeping his voice soft and concerned and genuine, “I am happy with my life. It wasn’t what I imagined it would be, true. But I have friends and family that I didn’t have when I was growing up. I have people who believe in me, who rely on me, who I can rely on, when before I didn’t have anyone.

“You gave me everything I wanted, Reborn. You _saw_ me. You saw the potential in a weak crybaby. You saw past Dame-Tsuna. I am happy with my life.” Tsuna looked at the corpse, a dead Hayato flashing in place of the traitor, before gazing at Reborn with heavy conviction. “If that is the price to pay, then I’m okay with bloodstained hands.” 

Those were his absolutely true thoughts, and he'd made that sincerity ring soft and clear in his voice. 

His family was his _universe_. There was no overstating that fact. It followed that he'd do anything for them. 

“There was a time you **_weren’t,_** ” Reborn reminisced. 

Tsuna didn't deign that with a response. He'd already said all that he needed to. He was happy, and Reborn wouldn't listen if Tsuna told him that he actually knew all the turmoil the Sun was going through but didn't blame Reborn at all. 

And then Reborn _apologized._ Oh, oh no. He was taking this just as bad as his Intuition had been nagging at him. 

It honestly wasn't that horrifying, goodness gracious. “You don't do apologies,” Tsuna said, confused at _why now_. 

(He'd be lying if he didn't admit that this would have meant a lot more when he was crying on Haru or Ryohei or Takeshi's lap over the cruelties that he'd seen and what he was becoming. Forgiving Reborn for continuing to mold him into the perfect ruthless mafia boss even after getting to know and care about the Sky had been _hard_ , and he had decided he was done with forgiving afterward.) 

“You may not see it, but I've done you a great disservice,” Reborn declared softly, a little broken, bowing to Tsuna. 

Tsuna saw more than Reborn ever gave him credit for. But in the end, this life was what had made Tsuna happy beyond belief, and so he couldn't complain, even about early!Reborn. 

Tsuna settled on most of the truth, a last-ditch effort to reach Reborn, but it was extremely shoddy because Tsuna knew that Reborn wouldn't listen. 

“You haven't done anything wrong, Reborn. There's nothing to apologize for.” 

It was done and over with, and Tsuna was like this now. 

Reborn turned away almost in shock, not even registering him any more. Tsuna could almost visibly see the compartmentalization taking place, and it wouldn't help. At some point he'd break down in private, even if it took months or years. 

Tsuna himself, and his family beside him, had finished mourning the Sky’s lost innocence long ago. It was a fact of life that Tsuna was a mafia don. A little more compassionate and emotional than any other in private, but that was just his soul and his Flames, a part of him that he couldn’t root out.

Reborn was the only one left to finish mourning, and he’d come around.

Eventually. 

* * *

Tsuna found Chrome and Takeshi chatting quietly on a bench in the inner circle’s private garden, watching Mukurowl and Kojiro fly. As soon as they sensed him, they turned towards him. 

“How are you doing?” he asked. 

“The more important question is how you’re doing, boss,” Chrome said, “but I’m happy.”

“So am I!” agreed Takeshi, a wonderful smile lighting up his face, signalling the bloom of a similar smile on Tsuna. 

“I’m glad,” Tsuna said, sitting down in front of them and interrupting before Takeshi could turn the question back on him. “Are you ready for the meeting with the Talpa?” 

“It’s probably a trap,” Takeshi guessed. Chrome nodded.

“Yeah, but we can’t prove it. And it’s the best place to catch them red-handed,” Tsuna mused. “We’ll go over the details in tomorrow’s general meeting.”

“Cool,” Takeshi said, eyes flickering to his shirt. “Why’s there blood on your face and suit?” 

“I’m surprised Reborn didn’t skin you alive for that,” Chrome ventured, subdued. Tsuna appreciated that she was trying to cover her concern, but he knew her too well for that to work.

Tsuna blew out air. “Reborn’s being silly,” he told them. “I demolished someone who was going to plant a trap for Hayato and injure others while trying to eliminate my Storm. Reborn actually got worried at the manner in which I killed him and suddenly wanted to know if I’m actually okay. But I’m enjoying where I am now--I couldn’t imagine life any other way than by your sides.” 

They’d been with him through his transformation, through his acceptance of this life. They still didn’t like it--Tsuna was really the only one who had completely accepted his changes, sort of pure necessity, but they loved and supported him. 

His Mist and his Rain exchanged glances and reached down to embrace him. Tsuna reached up to them, beaming. 

And they sat back and enjoyed the dwindling evening light as it illuminated the soaring Box Animals. 

**Author's Note:**

> ahahahah
> 
> obviously, no, his family is not over the Tsuna that used to be, but this is their life and it could be a lot worse. they just have to enjoy what they have. it's a little yikes.


End file.
